Supreme Court pins NDMA over rescue operations in Uttarakhand

The Supreme Court has asked the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to file an affidavit within two weeks regarding the status on the rescue operations in flood-hit areas in Uttarakhand.

The direction by a bench presided over by Justice A.K. Patnaik came while adjourning the hearing of a PIL in this regard to July 26.

The affidavit by NDMA would be keenly awaited in view of the poor track-record of the authority in handling disasters.

Disaster: Heavy rains in Uttarakhand last month caused major devastation to the region

Mail Today had run a series of reports highlighting the failures of NDMA in minimising the impact of disasters on life and property. Since its establishment in 2005, there have been over 3,000 deaths in natural calamities across the country.

RELATED ARTICLES

Share this article

Share

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had stated in its report in March that the NDMA's performance in terms of project implementation has been abysmal.

"So far, no major project taken by NDMA has seen completion. It was noticed that NDMA selected projects without proper ground work and as a result the projects were either abandoned midway or were incomplete after a considerable period," CAG said in its report.

Questions have also been raised on the amount of money put in by the government for constituting and ensuring the functioning of the body.